PORTMAN'S POV
Man what was I thinking pushing Jules out of the way like that?
Am I severely retarded or something?
The way things have been heading lately I'm guessing that yes I do have some form of a mental illness and my mother neglected to tell me.
Note extreme sarcasm. I'm just making excuses for my pretty poor behaviour lately.
It took Fulton to lay things out for me before I realised what was going on.
Julie Gaffney, the mighty goddess of Eden Hall, had a crush on me. Not sure if she still does because I've been the world's biggest asshole to her lately and I don't blame her for not speaking to me.
Although after the incident with Dickhead and Assface (translation Rick & Cole) outside the locker room, Julie seems to be smiling at me again.
So don't do anything stupid.
Fulton and I were leaving our dorm room on our way to the girls' place and to test my newfound 'dude don't do anything stupid' mantra, who else but Britney and Alexa were waiting for us in the hall.
Fulton shot me a look and I shook my head, indicating that I wasn't going to do anything dumb.
"Hi baby" Alexa cooed and Fulton happily accepted the kiss she was offering.
"Hi Dean" Britney came up to me.
"Its Portman" I told her and stepped away from her when she tried to throw her arms around me.
"Sorry, Portman" she said looking a little confused. I felt like an asshole but it had to be done.
I shoved my hands in my pockets and prayed that this little visit would be over soon.
"Um Portman can I ask you something?" Britney looked at me in a way that would drive any redblooded male on the planet insane but the only girl who could look at me like that now was Julie.
"I guess" I replied in a non-committal way. I wasn't doing anything to give this girl the idea that l liked her in any way other than as a friend.
"I was wondering if you'd like to go to the dance with me?" she asked like she was expecting me to say yes.
"Um, I don't think so, see I kinda have this thing, with someone else, and I was gonna ask her tonight" I replied glancing at Fulton who gave me a short nod.
"Oh, um, I see. Well then I guess I'll just wait for you to ask me later then" she replied and I couldn't believe my ears.
"What?" I blurted out.
"You heard me" she cooed trying to be flirtatious.
"Yeah but you obviously didn't hear me" I replied.
"Yeah I did, you're gonna ask me to the dance tonight" she said.
"No, I'm gonna ask SOMEONE ELSE tonight, I'm sorry but the girl's just not gonna be you" I said starting to feel a little frustrated. What the hell was I thinking when I slept with this chick?
Yeah that's right, I wasn't thinking.
"Right so I'm just some toy you use for fun and then throw away?" she started yelling.
"Yes, NO….i mean NO!" I couldn't believe I'd just said 'yes' to her accusation.
"You know what Dean Portman? You are the worlds biggest asshole" she yelled.
"I know" I said softly. I didn't mean to hurt the girl but I didn't know what else I could do, or say for that matter.
"I'm done, I'll see you later" she said to Alexa before storming off.
"Way to go fuckhead" Alexa gave me a cold stare before she ran after her best friend.
"Dude, its gotta be done" Fulton said sympathetically.
"I know but I still feel like scum, I basically used her to forget about Julie" I said walking off down the hall.
"At least you didn't lead her on" Fulton was trying to cheer me up.
"Not this time anyway" I replied wishing we could just get to Julie and Connie's dorm room already.
"Dude you've chosen, Julie's more important to you" Fulton said and I swore he sounded just like Yoda.
Ironically, I had a feeling that's what the movie would be tonight.
"Yeah" I said glad to see the Ducks heading inside the room.
"Better hurry up if we want a good seat" Fulton said quickening his pace.
Turns out my 'good seat' was right next to Julie.
"How's the ankle?" I asked as I sat down trying to get as close as I could without making things obvious.
"Better" she replied shifting so that her foot was directly out in front of her resting on a pillow.
"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean for you to get hurt" I replied hoping she'd get my hidden meaning.
"I know you didn't" she said and I couldn't tell whether she knew what I was getting at or not.
I didn't get a chance to ask her because Charlie had arrived with the movie and funny enough, it was Star Wars!
JULIE'S POV
Throughout the movie I couldn't help but sneak glances at Connie and Averman. They looked so happy as they cuddled together and stealing kisses whenever they thought no one was looking.
I couldn't help but be a little jealous. If only Dean and I could have something like that. Wait what am I saying? There is no Dean and me. There's Dean and the cheerleaders and there's Dean and just about every other girl in this school but there has never, never been a 'Dean and Julie'.
So why was he sitting next to me getting as close as he could without actually sitting on me?
Get a grip Julie, its probably because it is really overcrowded in here. Yeah that's what it is.
I concentrated on slowing my breathing down to a normal pace and willed my heart to stop thumping so loudly. This was hell sitting here being so close to Dean Portman that I had to literally pinch myself in order to stop myself from leaning over and kissing him.
I'm pathetic aren't I? I know he's all wrong for me and I know he'd only just end up breaking my heart but it didn't stop me from wanting it so badly.
In order to take my mind off of things I tried to tune into the movie. Just my luck that it would be Star Wars Episode 1. Normally I can handle watching this stuff but since I'd already seen it like 50 times with Charlie my mind started to wander and three guess where it wandered to.
For those of you who can't figure it out I'll make it painstakingly obvious – of course my thoughts wandered back to Dean Portman.
My heart nearly leapt out of my throat when he moved even closer and laid his head on my shoulder casually saying he was tired.
What kind of game was he playing at this time?
From the corner of my eye I saw Fulton look at his friend and shake his head.
Connie was eyeing me silently asking what was up. I raised my eyebrows at her in an attempt to say "I have no idea". Everyone else was still watching the movie.
After another hour or so of trying to keep my shit together I heard a strange noise. Obviously I wasn't the only one who noticed it because Charlie had pressed pause and was asking.
"What is that?"
We were all looking around the room and I realised that it was coming from Portman. He had fallen fast asleep on my shoulder and was now snoring his head off.
The Ducks tried to keep their laughter to minimum volume but it was very difficult. Even I had to laugh. It was a funny sight.
"Julie try waking him up" Charlie suggested.
"No way dude, he's freaking insane if he's woken up" Fulton piped up.
"I agree I don't want to die just yet" Averman agreed.
"At least you've got Connie to protect you Aves!" Russ grinned.
"Shut up Russ!" Connie replied half laughing.
"Make me Moreau" Russ taunted back good-naturedly.
"Will all of you shut up, I'm trying to sleep and I'm comfortable!" Portman grumbled from the depths of my shoulder.
"I think the man has spoken" Charlie laughed.
"Oooh the Bash Brother and the Catlady" Goldberg teased.
I shot him a look that basically said "Shut up or die" and Goldberg quickly obliged.
Thank god.
"So do we have to set a rule with these two now – no kissing on the ice" Ken said cheekily.
I swear I was about to kill the little bash brother there and then.
"WE ARE NOT TOGETHER DAMN IT!" I screamed getting up from my spot on the floor and storming out of the room. I knew it was overkill but I was so damn angry. How dare they think something was going on when it wasn't.
In the process Portman's head had slid to the floor.
"What the hell Jules?" I heard him ask after me.
Great so he probably thought I was mad at him now. Truth was I wasn't mad at him anymore. I guess I'd gotten over myself and realised that he could kiss – or sleep with – anyone he wanted since we weren't together in any way, shape or form.
"Julie wait!" I heard Connie running down the hallway behind me.
"I'm sorry Cons, I know I went a bit overboard" I replied feeling like a fool.
"No they just need to learn when to shut up" Connie said loud enough for the boys to hear.
"Come on lets go talk in the spare room without any prying ears around" Connie had spotted the top of Charlie and Fulton's heads trying to peek around the door frame. She was talking about the spare dorm room around the corner where we often went when we were trying to get away from everything.
I looked back at the dorm room and saw the heads rapidly retreating. They are so nosy it's not funny.
"Yeah lets go" I agreed needing to have a one on one chat with my best friend.
"So what was the deal with you and Portman in there a minute ago?" Connie pounced on me the second the door was shut.
"I don't know, one minute I'm trying to watch the movie and the next he's telling me he's tired and drops his head on my shoulder" I explained not understanding myself what had happened.
Connie thought about this for a moment, pondering her answer.
"I think he likes you" she finally said.
"Yeah right, Portman doesn't like girls like me Cons, he likes the cheerleader type. Plus he knows damn well he's got no chance of getting into my pants. Well not straight away anyway" I replied feeling myself blush. I hadn't realised I was giving too much information away.
"JULIE GAFFNEY!" Connie scolded with a huge smile on her face.
"What?" I replied coyly.
"You…. Nevermind. I'm sure every girl has had the fantasy about the hot hockey player" Connie laughed.
"Yeah and yours is about a certain red-headed hockey player named oh gee I dunno, Averman!" I teased her back.
"Oh no you caught me" Connie grinned.
I missed having these girly chats with her. Not that I was resentful of her relationship with Averman. I was extremely happy for her that she'd moved on from Guy with someone who will treat her with the respect she deserves.
Guy did treat her with respect whilst they were together but when they broke up however, that was a different story.
And if my best friend in the entire world was happy then I was happy for her.
I just hoped I could be as happy as her one day.
Our conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door and Connie stood up to answer the door.
"Oh its you" she said like whoever was on the other side was the last person she was expecting.
"Can I come in?" he asked and I too was surprised at its owner.
"Sure, I'll just leave you two to it" she said and gave me a wink before exiting the room.
so who's Julie's visitor? Its pretty obvious when you think about it (or you might not have to!!) Only a few more chapters left and I'm done (btw - we've now finished running side by side with the first 2 stories so its all new stuff from hereon in, incl. the dance, the revenge and maybe some peace with julie/portman)
GALINDAPOPULAR - I like it when idiots get put in their place too! (last night my fiance & I were watching the Transporter 2 and I actually cheered out loud when that baddie blond bitch who can't wear clothes like a normal person got killed!!) I figured Portman wasn't gonna be able to breathe much longer if his head remained up there so I let a bit of it out!
DONNA79 - am still thinking up the revenge, any ideas??
SPIKEHAIRGOOD - its the line from 'They're What?' so I had to use it again! Charlie can be immature sometimes, especially when it comes to Ducks and goofing around. I think I've used Rick the Dick before but I thought it fits him perfectly, glad you liked it! Hope this update is soon enough for you!
THANKS TO ALL WHO REVIEWED.